''The Irish Filmography: Fiction Films 1896-1996'' is a 757-page reference catalog of movies and short films produced from 1896 to 1996 in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, or about Ireland and the Irish. It was published in 1996 by Red Mountain Press, a company in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland. The chief editor was

Kevin Rockett Kevin Rockett is an Irish film historian, writer and scholar, specialising on the history of Irish cinema. He is currently Associate Professor in Film Studies and head of the School of Drama, Film and Music, at Trinity College, Dublin, and is ...

. The catalog has a title index of approximately 2,000 films. Approximately one-tenth of those are Irish productions. The remainder, produced outside Ireland, are films about Ireland and the

Irish diaspora The Irish diaspora ( ga, Diaspóra na nGael) refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland. The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner and Meeder, The ...

. About one-half of the titles are

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

films; another quarter are

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

films. There are also films from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Arrangement of information

Films are grouped by country of origin, then by chronology within each nationality. Many entries have extensive detail including production credits, actors with role names, narrative synopsis, production and distribution companies, running time, color process, sound system, literary source and review citations.

Inclusion criteria

For non-Irish productions, the reason for inclusion usually is obvious, such as a setting in Ireland or a story about people of Irish heritage. Films set in other countries also qualify if shot in Ireland. Even one Irish character in a film's story qualifies that film for inclusion, such as Brigid O’Shaughnessy (played by

Mary Astor Mary Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke; May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Although her career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in '' The Maltese ...

) in The Maltese Falcon (1941). All films about

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

are included, even those in which that historical character doesn't appear; for example, the book has a detailed entry for Executive Action, a fictional story about a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...

(1985) has a detailed entry, owing to a scene in the Diner at the beginning when local bully Biff Tannan refers to Marty's father as 'Irish' in a derogatory fashion.

Popeye Doyle Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Gene Hackman) in The French Connection likewise qualifies as an Irish character; in the movie Doyle remarks 'kiss my Irish ass!' after he has got drunk on whiskey with a friendly French waiter.

Additional indexes

In addition to the index of film titles, the book also has the following indexes: * Personal Names * Corporate Names * Composers and Songwriters * Literary and Dramatic Sources

Reception

Filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

Bob Quinn stated the book is "''an extraordinary opus ... Rockett is an excellent and painstaking scholar. Never before has anybody attempted to document in one volume every film ever made in or about Ireland. ... The amount of detail he has unearthed is no less than stupendous. ... The nearest literary analogy I can think of is Dineen's Irish Dictionary''", Jeff Brownrigg of

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

writes that the book is "''an indispensable tool for the researcher.''" and that it "''provides a valuable source of information about a large group of international narrative feature films gathered together under the head of their general association with Ireland.''" He writes of the book's nearly two thousand entries and makes note of its comprehensive nature, concluding that it "''is clearly an essential reference for libraries and will be sought by film buffs.''"

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

notes that the impetus for the creation of 'Irish Film & TV Research Online Film & Television Index' was Kevin Rockett's ''The Irish Filmography: Fiction Films 1896 - 1996'', due to its documenting "''all fiction films made in Ireland and about Ireland and the Irish produced worldwide since the beginnings of cinema''". In ''Postcolonial and Gender Perspectives in Irish Studies'', author Marisol Morales Ladrón writes that ''The Irish Filmography'' is a "''wide-ranging directory''", and notes that it contains information even on titles which have been lost. In ''Projecting ethnicity and race: an annotated bibliography of studies on imagery in American film'', it is offered that "''The sheer bulk of the 757 page, telephone book-sized work suggests the comprehensive breadth and detail offered...''"

References

External links